Farming settlement (mainly wheat and oats) and timber milling began in the Boho area in the 1860s, and by 1869 the Official Post Office Directory for the Violet Town area, listed three families residing in the district.
farming at Davis Road, off Boho Church Road
1. Mr Peter Hunter, landowner and the first school teacher of the Boho State School, gave his residence as ‘Tailing Flat’ (now corner Creamery Rd and School Rd).
2. Mr T Bourke, storekeeper gave his address as Five Mile Creek (nearer to Baddaginnie). The Bourke’s Hill Primary School (also called Five Mile Creek) where my grandmother Ella Davis nee Jackson was schooled, was named after him.
3. Henry Aldridge, was a wood splitter in Boho. Henry was a convict from Leeds, England. Click on his name to read more about him.
As pupil numbers fluctuated in the district due to settlement, unemployment, weather patterns affecting crops, wars and migration, sometimes the schools would operate half time with another local school, sharing teachers as decided by the Education Department. By the mid 1880s, there were four official state government schools in the parish of Boho –
BOHO STATE SCHOOL NO 1394 (operating 1874-1949) – Crown Allotment 14A (leased from owner Peter Hunter), then later in 1901 across the road on the corner of Crown Allotment 12 (J Stevenson, original selector). Corner Creamery Rd and School Roads.
BOHO EAST STATE SCHOOL NO 2796 (operating 1887-1894) – Crown Allotment 17 (land donated by Mr Martin Pascoe).
FIVE MILE CREEK STATE SCHOOL NO 2709 (BOURKE’S HILL) (operating 1885-1924) Crown Allotment 26A (railway easement). The locals always knew this school as ‘Bourkes Hill’, named after the first storekeeper near the Five Mile Creek settlement, Mr T Bourke.
HARRY’S CREEK STATE SCHOOL NO 2843 (operating 1887- 1902).
Crown Allotment 62 (forfeited sawmill reserve originally selected by James Williams in 1879).
Click on the links below to see other community organisations and Boho records I have researched –
Boho Free Methodist Church
Boho Creamery
Boho Rifle Club
Boho Fire Brigade
Early Boho Crown Land Grants
Boho Land Leases
Early Boho Settlers mentioned in newspapers
Boho Inquests
My Boho settler families
Boho People Photos
Boho and Violet Town WW1 Soldiers by birthplace
Boho and Violet Town WW1 Soldiers by address
Boho WW2 soldier records
